Predator Beach Buggy Build

[LUDICRUZ]

i had an old CNC pedal kit lying around so i decided to make use of it to create something.

The below hollow steel bar housed an accelerator pedal with a 6mm rod connected to it, the bar has bearing on either end which allowed the rod to rotate within it smoothly.

You will also notice on the end, the bar is machined flat on top and bottom and there is also a groove for a circlip.

I'm assuming this end fitted into some kind of housing to hold it in place, which i will make use of later.





The bar was quite long so i had to cut a piece from the centre, and re-weld the ends together in order to keep the bearings intack.

I then welded a bracket to the left side, this would allow me to mount the bar onto the passenger side floorpan once in position.





Next i bought a length 0f 6mm steel rod and welded a flat plate which was cut and shaped to size, this would now allow me to pivot the rod within the main bar.





You will notice i have flattened down the top and bottom surfaces of the rod and drilled a hole, this will allow me to attach the original lever that is attached to the accelerator cable and lock it on place with a split pin. 





test fitting the lever to make sure its a perfect fit with no play...




Next it was time to fabricate some kind of mount on the pedal side.

There was a mount on the base of the pedal which was of no use so i cut if off and sanded it smooth.





Then using a block of aluminium i cut, drilled and shaped it so that i could mount it to the base of the pedal and at the same time it would house the main shaft.





A quick check for positioning and fitting and all was well....








The last part of the puzzle was to link the pedal to the plate welded to the 6 mm bar, so i cut and shaped some steel plates...




And connected it all together....








Satisfied it was all working well, it was time to mount it in place...

[LUDICRUZ]

Never even heard of a Gas pedal 

What did you damage?

Carb linkage looks awesome - I reckon Allan must be on commission with that one 

Hi Dave, not realising i had kept the slave and the reservoir at the bottom of a box, either we dropped the box or put something heavy on it, but managed to put quite a bad kink in the slave and squashed reservoir bottle, it was definitely beyond my capabilities to try and fix it, so in moment of anger and to release some frustration, i took the sledge hammer to it and gave it a new shape....

[LUDICRUZ]

You may have already noticed in the last picture, my next minor change....

I originally had the standard metal caps on the girling master cylinders, which meant i had to open the caps to check the fluid level every time.

So i purchased the screw on extension reservoirs from Demon Tweeks, this now allows me to add more fluid but i also have visibility of the fluid level within this reservoir. 

[snoopy]

Girling reservoir extensions are neat never seen them before but I have spent some hours over the years removing the original caps when they seize solid.

[LUDICRUZ]

Hey all, i mentioned last week that i had been working closely with a well known forum member on the final part of the project, well my parcel arrived this afternoon and i can reveal all now.

Last year when i attended the Stoneleigh Kit car show i was introduced to Chad as i had heard from several people that he was the man renowned for putting together quite a few of the buggy wiring looms.

This was merely just an introduction, however i took the opportunity to express my interest in Chad's wiring skills and even managed to see some of his work on a couple of the buggies at the show.

I remember Chad also mentioning that he was a CAD specialist so the prospect of having a bespoke kit and a full wiring diagram to support it would be great, and the thought of purchasing an off the shelf kit seemed impractical because i would have to make quite a number of changes and add more wiring to make it compatible.

So a few months later i sent Chad the below diagram of all my electrical parts and switches along with a couple of A4 pages of notes.....



And over the next few months we exchanged several emails fine tuning all the details and the wiring diagrams Chad created.

He was fantastic as some of my requests were quite specific as to how i wanted some of the switches to operate, and Chad went out of his way to source some of the compatible relays.

i would class myself as an amateur when it comes to reading and understanding wiring diagrams, however one of the best things Chad did was not only to create one drawing which showed the full wiring diagram but he broke it down into sections, a lighting diagram, an Ignition diagram, an Ancillaries diagram and an Indicator diagram, which made it so effortless to understand everything...


The below is what i received today from Chad, its absolutely brilliant, he's labelled every cable with a number and marked the drawing accordingly.







Hopefully i will start within the next couple of weeks and get everything wired up.

[Chad]

No problem at all Nav.

Sorry it took a little longer than planned but hopefully it will be easy to do.

Any issues just shout.

Enjoy the wiring.
Chad

[Paul1953]

Nav\Chad....  This is impressive in a number of ways that only someone with auto wiring experience can appreciate. 

For individuals who are not experienced the real benefit comes from individual schematics with graphics making each wire link obvious.
I have seen so many enthusiastic individuals take one look at the wiring schematics in a Haynes manual and simply go blank and convince themselves it is all meaningless to them.

I know every buggy owner does not have large amounts of cash to spare but what a difference to the buggy world it would be if each and everyone had a custom made loom individual to their buggy along with understandable diagrams. It`s inherent reliabilty that is almost guaranteed.

 

[LUDICRUZ]

Hi Paul... rest assured i am not in any way a wealthy person with deep pockets but just a simple folk like others on this forum.

Hence the reason its taken me so long to fulfill my dream in building build this project....

However you are absolutely right though that some elements of any automobile need to be well designed for its purpose not only to function flawlessly but to be easily identifiable if any faults occur.

I could have easily gone down the alternative route and purchased a universal kit with a simple fuse box for 8 or 10 fuses for £100, but i would have had to still acquire all the compatible relays plus additional wiring for all the custom switches and parts and an additional fuse box. For someone with basic knowledge of wiring i would have probably spent circa £200 - £250 and still be no better off as i would be working off the basic wiring diagram and adapting it to suit my needs.

From past experiences i have learnt that sometimes its better to pay a bit more and go down the bespoke route, because in the long run if anything goes wrong i wont be pulling my hair out trying to diagnose a fault. 

In addition, what Chad has put together for me, now gives me the absolute confidence that even i can fit the whole wiring kit in, and i can see even you are appreciating this too.

It was definitely money well spent for what i have received, and to be honest it wasn't much far off what i would have ended up spending had i gone down the universal route.

[Chad]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I really try to make it as easy as possible but as every diagram I do is bespoke and effectively started from scratch it always takes me much longer than I would want it to. It actually takes me much longer to draw the diagrams and put the kit together than it does for me to wire a complete buggy from scratch. 

Therefore I could not really make it a viable business and hence only really do it for forum members if they are willing to wait for me to get the kits finished in the spare time I have. 

[Paul1953]

Nav..... Forgive me I had not meant to indicate that you have loadsa money and deep pockets.... Really meant that many buggy owners are building\maintaining literally on a shoestring. (No offence to anyone meant here as there is nothing wrong with cobbling something together as cheap as possible).  It is a buggy`s electrical system that gives so much trouble re- reliability in my experience. I have seen some truly amazing so called "rats nests". Not only can a poorly wired system be unreliable it can be potentially lethal. In a stroke you will have a system that you can rely upon.

I agree 100% with the cost of a dedicated loom as opposed to one assembled from ready made items being in same ball park or cheaper cost wise.

I have spent 3 months on wiring using a ready made main fuse box with integral wiring. Have bought relays, wire itself, crimp joints, heat shrink, switches, switch sockets, conduit, self amalgamating tape and the list goes on. Despite decades of working on auto wiring I have learned more from this than  from all the other experience put together. As always seems to be the case I would go about things differently next time. Yes I have a complex, iva compliant electrical system but it has cost an arm and a leg and with hindsight it didn`t have to.

Chad.... Do realise that you could not make the creation of a decent wiring loom set up profitable but I am full of admiration that you take the time to do this for others. I do not exaggerate when I say I have laid on my back in my buggy for hours beyond belief creating attachment points for the wiring conduits at 200mm intervals not wanting to use a multitude of fixing screws, I question my sanity at times as should I be using a soldering iron upside down ? 

[Doon L001]

Paul

"using a soldering iron upside down"

Don't you burn your hand? 

[Dave DND]

Paul

"using a soldering iron upside down"

Don't you burn your hand? 

 

[Paul1953]

Ha ha ... yes you get burn`t now and then, usually when you forget to keep the iron horizontal until the last moment...  I learned very quickly to keep my head to one side as far away as possible. it is not like sparks from grinding that go straight through your toughest clothing leaving crater like holes and burns like the billy ho when reaching your skin. It drops and feels hot but you don`t get a hole in clothing or skin.   I suggest that anyone reading about my upside down soldering escapades just have a laugh and remember I am saying "Don`t Try This At Home"...

(Strangley I have more scars on my hands and arms from soldering in the upright position... mostly from putting the soldering iron on the vice instead of it`s holder... then forgetting it`s there and brushing against the hot end. ).

[Doon L001]

Fixed computers for a living when you could fix them rather than swap bits

Know all about burns from soldering

[Guy]

Wow that is brilliant!

What does this service cost (ball park) for a straight forward loom. Essentially engine wiring loom, lights, speedo and the minimum switches?